Working thesis title: Gastronomy and Modernization: A case study of taste and eating out in Istanbul. (Title, work-in-progress) (Researching this since 2012).

City Research Online is the institutional repository or research database of City University London and this contains research outputs, articles, theses written by City academics and research students. Aysegul’s article ‘A reconceptualization of gastronomy as relational and reflexive’ is available from City Research Online at: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/11908/

This article merges Aysegul’s previous research on food tourism with her current pursuits in food’s symbolic and positional value.

Since November 2013, City University London Library has been running a scheme whereby research students and staff can request that books for their research can be purchased via a webform. A blog post about Read for Research can be found on the Citylibresearchers blog. Aysegul has ordered some books via the scheme and has found this very useful.

Research tools

A useful tool for saving PDFs of articles and note-taking for collaborating with other colleagues or students is Evernote and Aysegul has recently started using this. There is a Researcher guide produced by City University London Library including a section on Social media and information about Evernote

“Read a lot and do not be scared to read around. Sometimes inspiring ideas come out of nowhere. But know when to stop. You will start the PhD full of ideas and will want to pursue a lot of things at the same time. You need to learn to control your enthusiasm and sometimes the only way to do is to stop reading and to take a step back and reconsider where you are, where you were coming from and which way you want to go. Build a good relationship with your supervisor, you will realize their advice is invaluable. Engage with your community and speak with people. A PhD does not have to be as lonely as it is often said to be.”